Mutsawashe Mutendi, a South African, is doing a PhD in Medical Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. She is conducting ethnographic research on women’s health in Zimbabwe’s artisanal mining sector.
Mutsawashe observed firsthand the collapse of Zimbabwe’s health infrastructure and resolved to close the gap between the social and medical fields. She realized that the full extent of women’s health issues in the extractive industries had not been professionally researched or understood by key stakeholders, including the women themselves. That knowledge gap resulted in both delayed recognition of their needs for, and limited access to, culturally responsive health services. Her research is expected to directly benefit about 600 women and their children, including those yet unborn, and she aims to reach many more through planned advocacy and policy development work.
